


Tzinghalis' Tower and the Subsequent Breakdown

by candycubed



Series: Adventures of Lise Bézoard, Vestige Extraordinaire [1]
Category: Elder Scrolls Online
Genre: Aka Main Quest Spoilers, Altered canon, And Most Importantly Greymoor Spoilers, And Summerset Spoilers, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Choking, Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor, F/M, Implied/Referenced Torture, Lyris Titanborn's Iconic Battleaxe, Mental Breakdown, Minor Character Death, Referenced Darien Gautier, Spoilers Up to Markarth, The Vestige Needs a Break, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:40:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28400289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candycubed/pseuds/candycubed
Summary: After Fennorian’s near death experience, the Vestige has a mental breakdown with Lyris attempting to comfort her as the Vestige reflects upon the life changing events over the years she has withstood.Set during “The Vampire Scholar” quest
Relationships: Fennorian (Elder Scrolls)/Original Female Character(s), Fennorian/Vestige (Elder Scrolls)
Series: Adventures of Lise Bézoard, Vestige Extraordinaire [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2080017
Kudos: 13





	Tzinghalis' Tower and the Subsequent Breakdown

**Author's Note:**

> My Vestige is a Breton tank, who goes by the name Lise Bézoard.
> 
> Also this story employs a shifting, third person point of view.
> 
> Also this was written before Markarth or the prologue just so you know.
> 
> Unbetaed and unabashed

Lyris and Lise raced through the hallways of Tzinghalis’ tower. Lyris remarked that she had never seen Lise work so hard or push herself so fast before, but had to admit that Fenn’s tortured sobs were agonizing to hear, had to be for the both of them. Lyris knew she hadn’t known Fenn for very long, but she held a particular fondness for him and definitely didn’t want an ally dead. Lise though, was different she mused. Lise usually acted calm, collected, unnervingly so, so much to the point where Lyris thought she didn't feel anything anymore. Her soul had been gone for awhile, Lyris knew, and she also knew that Lise had killed people, and worse, murdered innocent people. But now she wasn’t emotionless like normal, she seemed rash, on her toes, sweating and mumbling as she picked locks and worked levers to get through the doors. She didn’t even stop to kill that stone golem thing that that disgusting red mist had created, instead choosing to run straight past it to work on getting the next door open. Lyris had to kill it herself before catching up to her! They seemed to be close now though, and the voices of Exarch Tzinghalis and Rada al-Saran echoed throughout the halls. 

_“the deceived son of an...estranged brother, forced to deny his nature”_

_“let him truly understand the power of the Gray Host!”_

_“the machine will finish him momentarily”_

Suddenly, Lise had the door opened and before Lyris could react, she went in, not quietly, stealth fucked away to the gods.

“RADA AL-SARAN! EXARCH TZINGHALIS! TIME TO MEET YOUR FUCKING END” she screamed, eyes murderous as she looked upon the two men. 

Rada al-Saran simply quirked an eyebrow at their entrance. “Dear Tzinghalis, take care of this, won’t you?” he stated this quite simply, before turning into a swarm of bats that flew away swiftly from the ever growing precarious situation. 

“Fine,” Lise sharpened her gaze at Tzinghalis, Lyris running behind her to catch up, “guess I’m only killing one of you today.”

Tzinghalis looked at them with a near lecherous gaze. “New test subjects? Just in time. This one is about spent,” his face was cold and lifeless, but yet his eyes still held hunger when he looked at them. “Hmmm, yes...a half-giant’s blood and the vestige’s will add nicely to my collection.”

Lise hauled her sword and shield up, moving into position to strike. Lyris had always thought that the sword seemed too big and off balanced for Lise’s much smaller body, but she would admit that Lise wielded it without fault. Again, catching up, she hauled her battle axe up and got into position to fight to the side of Lise.

“Pity, maybe you should’ve thought about that before kidnapping Fenn. I might’ve thought about going easier when killing you, as I inevitably would have to do anyway,” she taunted, her sword swinging, close enough to slice a thin line into Tzinghalis’ side, a small line of blood then flowing out. 

Tzinghalis then snarled back, “You really think you’re going to kill me, you haughty bitch?” then proceeded to throw a potion at Lise, which promptly hit her shield she had brought up at the last moment, as Tzinghalis turned into dust before their very eyes.  
The room was spinning, “where did he go?” Lyris questioned out loud, Fenn in the background gasped either for breath or more probably out of pain, and then suddenly Tzinghalis reappeared behind Lise’s back. Lyris watched in horror as his hand reached out, and grabbed her by the neck, nails scratching into her delicate flesh, causing many little lines of blood to fall from her throat. She then gasped, her throat muscles flexing wildly as he tightened his hold and processed to choke her out. 

Lyris reacted instantly, watching the scene happen in slow motion as Tzinghalis opened his mouth and made out for her neck, taking her battle axe and sending it into his shoulder in a move so powerful it knocked both him and Lise to the ground. Lise, throat now free and herself now able to move, swifting stood and picked up her sword and drove it right into Tzinghalis’ throat, pinning him there.

“Look who’s gasping now,” she remarked darkly, herself still gasping wildly, before ripping the sword out and chopping off his head with a few bloody, exaggerated cleaves. She didn’t stop until his head was completely detached, and Lyris watched only in moderate horror as it happened. Yeah, something was off about Lise.

\----------------------------

Finally, Lise turned around to face the torture device that Fenn was cleverly strung up in. “FENN!” Her voice screeched, a horrifying sound that a groggy, dying Fennorian realized he had never heard come out of her mouth before. This was the Vestige, a usually no-nonsense and cool-headed warrior who had seen many more battles than Fennorian (even with all his years of being around); supposedly more gruesome and deadly injuries as well. From the way she was reacting, perhaps that was not the case, he mused dejectly. He attempted to move, perhaps trying to assist her, but he gasped in pain as soon as he tried.

She quickly ran over to the lever, turned the device off, and undid his bindings, allowing him to finally collapse upon the sweet, sweet ground.

"It's too late...for me....Lise..go...warn Solitude…” he coughed, throat rasping at the thought of speaking more, “you should have left me...you need to go, Solitude is in danger.”

“I’m not fucking leaving you Fennorian!” her voice was sharp, unnecessarily so, but quickly softened as she looked over his injuries. “Gods, you’re hurt...oh my gods, oh my gods, what do I do?” Her voice was breaking, her own pain evident in it.

“I need blood...but I won't drink from an unwilling person....in this state, even with a willing participant, I don't trust my restraint. If only I had my flask...." he coughed again, rasping with now obvious pain.

Her voice was frantic, it moved a thousand miles a minute as she ripped her knapsack off her back, fishing around for the flask. “Gods, I’m not supposed to be the healer, that’s your job Fenn. And Lyris is supposed to do the damage, and I’m supposed to be the one who takes the hits,” she mumbled while she sorted around, “I know I grabbed that stupid flask out of Dusktown. Where the fuck did it go, shit—fuck, here, can any of these help?” she asked, hope not quite evident in her voice as she knew the truth deep down as she pulled out her health potions, seeing the blood stained bottom of the knapsack where Fenn’s flask had broken (along with others) when she was thrown to the ground during the battle.

“No,” Fenn stopped for a moment and coughed again, his own dark blood staining their clothes, “I need blood. These injuries are too grave. You need to...leave me and move on. Stopping these storms is more important than me.” He coughed again, and could feel his abdomen about to collapse in on itself. It was a miracle he could still talk, they both mused, thoughts identical yet unconnected from each other.

“No.” Her voice became steely and hard with that one word, like it had earlier, and Fenn mustered enough energy to look into her gray eyes and they had also resolved themselves to steel and hardness. Fenn watched in shock as she pulled up her left sleeve, and unsheathed her sword to bring it up to her own arm. “You will have my blood.”

Lyris looked over in shock, currently trying to remove her battleaxe from Tzinghalis’ shoulder. It was stuck pretty good. She thought, deep down, that of course she didn’t want Fennorian to die, but that didn’t mean she wanted to give her own blood to him. Her blood was half-giant anyway, she was sure it didn’t provide much use to anyone outside of the dead corpse she was standing over.

“Wait, Lise you can’t, I—, I forbid it. I won’t be able to control myself, I can’t let myself harm you,”

She snarled in reply, “I know your Ravenwatch rules and I am consenting you daft idiot. I just killed an Exarch, you won’t kill me by drinking my blood. I will not stand by and allow another friend to die for me, not after having to sit there and watch your Verandis give himself to Molag Bal to save Rivenspire, not after having to see Abnur Tharn using the last of his magicka to save me and then dying on a fucking floating island, and not after watching the Golden Knight, Darien Gautier sacrifice himself for some stupid Daedric Prince’s will. I will no longer stand by it.” 

In one fell swoop, she slashed her wrist open and brought it near him, and he could no longer resist, especially with the smell already perforating the air from the injuries on her neck. All the energy that Fenn had left went to the blood frenzy, but even then he tried to stay self-aware, he couldn’t bear the thought of hurting Lise. The Vestige. A hero he had admired and looked up to, knowing that she had saved Rivenspire and even Adusa and Gwendis looked up to her. Plus, he had no qualms that Lyris would cut him down before letting him permanently harm the Vestige. He had few thoughts during this time, except that her blood tasted different, like the blood of a normal Breton (blood without Reachmen magic but with a small essence of Direnni), but with a sourness that usually connotes death. He believed that was one reason that it was easier to stop. After a minute or two, she wrenched her arm out of his sharp, sharp teeth, cleared the long, dark hair from his forehead, and looked him in the eyes. And he knew she was trying to ask him the question, she might have been speaking for all he knew, _was that enough_ , and he just gave her a nod and promptly passed out. 

\----------------------------

Lyris walked over then, looking at them with something akin to sadness in her eyes. She picked up Fenn’s limp body, and looked down at the still kneeling Lise, blood continuing to drip slowly from the miniscule punctures at her neck and a little faster from the self inflicted cut on her wrist.

“Drink some of those potions Vestige,” Lyris nudged her gently towards her tossed health potions, “we need to search Tzinghalis’ Sanctum for the plans for Solitude”.

Lise looked back up to Lyris, her usual cool and assured look back on her face, and nodded in response. But something about it scared Lyris, it scared her after all that emotion and rawness she had shown in the last hour was reduced back to her emotionless state as before.

After walking into the sanctum, Lyris gently sat down Fenn, and helped Lise search. They ended up finding multiple documents and maps, detailing locations of new storms and rituals.

“This is useful information. We must take this to Princess Svana at once,” Lyris announced, “I’ll take Fenn and meet you back in Solitude.” She had expected quick compliance, as usual, but when she turned back to Lise, a grief-stricken look was on her face instead, and she collapsed onto the cold Dwemeri floors and sobbed.

Lyris followed her to the ground, holding her as Lise continued to sob in her arms. Nothing too coherent Lyris noted, just no’s and broken promises and hiccups.

\----------------------------

Fenn awoke what he assumed to be several moments later, now moved onto a floor in part of Tzinghalis’ tower that he didn’t recognize. _The sanctum?_ , he thought, before realizing his head _ached_ , and then he knew he would need more blood, but he also knew that he could hold out for a day or so. Hopefully he could get to an alchemy set up sooner rather than later. He could sense that they were still in the depths of Blackreach, the only people he could sense were—Lise and Lyris. And that was when he realized what had awoken him. Lise was crying, and not the quiet sort, but the hyperventilating type where she could barely breathe in between sobs. His heart ached at the sight as he stirred and looked over. They were in an embrace, and Lyris was awkwardly attempting to soothe her. Neither had noticed him awaken.

Her tears started to slow. “Lyris, did I ever tell you about my life before becoming the Vestige?”

Lyris just shook her head no, her eyes sad and forgiving.

“I was born Lise Bézoard, and I lived in the great Breton kingdom of Camlorn. I was young, and I got married to a merchant and we lived a good and modest life for a few years. And then everything changed when the Worm Cult attacked. Mannimarco arrived, and razed the whole city to the ground. There was so much fire,” horror was so evident in her voice, “and then I just remember being chained and led to Mannimarco to be sacrificed. I had to sit there and watch as my friends and family and husband died gruesome deaths before I did myself. I was pregnant. And in a day the entire future that I had worked for was gone and in flames. And then the next thing I knew was meeting you in Coldharbour, somehow not a husk, and I was rescued. Given a second chance in life. And yet all the people that I loved then were dead and in servitude to Molag Bal, and I couldn’t save them. And I've been sitting here for years thinking that I wasn’t worthy of being rescued, and you should’ve chosen someone else to be your champion, because I never asked for this. To be constantly used and abused by all these goddamn alliances and factions through the years. All I wanted was a modest life with my husband and baby and now I’ll never see them or have that again. And the sad thing was that I had hope. When I woke back up on that ship harboured in Port Hunding, all I wanted to do was get back to Glenumbra. I didn’t care about helping the people of Stros M’kai or Betnikh, I was just willing to do whatever it took for passage home. I didn’t go to Glenumbra so that I could help the Prophet, no matter what destiny he said awaited me. I didn’t believe that the Elder Scrolls were real, nonetheless mentioned me. I just wanted to go home. I had somehow convinced myself that maybe it wasn’t as bad as I remembered, and my family and home would be waiting for me. But gods, it was a hundred times worse than what I thought. The Bloodthorn cult had raised the great werewolf Faolchu, and they had decimated whatever had been left in Camlorn. I knew, as I slaughtered the cult that had killed my family and murdered the werewolf who destroyed my home, that I would do anything so that this would never happen to another person. I knew then that Lise Admand was dead, along with my family. That is why I went back to the Prophet. Back to Daggerfall, and throughout all the provinces on this damned continent of Tamriel. Before becoming the Vestige, I hadn’t even travelled farther than Daggerfall! But as I was enlightened with this new purpose in Camlorn, there was one familiar face left. Darien Gautier. He was always this playboy, hotshot soldier, constantly flirting and sleeping with all the women in town. He never gave me the time of day _before_. But then we were cutting down enemies together and it was like he saw me as an equal, like I was worthy, and I knew I would do anything to be that good and worthy person he saw in me. Not the selfish woman who wanted to go back to her family. We had so many adventures together, from Glenumbra to Rivenspire, and I learned more about him, and I knew that somehow he was special. I felt so connected to him. And then in a blink of an eye we were in Coldharbour together, fighting together to take down Molag Bal, with Gabi at our side, and I thought to myself, after this I will get a chance to relax, to stop saving the world for once, and I could finally sit down and grab a drink with Darien and work out what there was between us. However, during the final battle Darien was just gone. He disappeared in a show of golden shimmer and he was fucking gone.” 

She broke down in tears at this, sobbing for several minutes before continuing. 

“All I wanted to do was retire and live a peaceful life, and instead me and Gabi were both consumed with trying to find him. I continued travelling the continent, helping all who asked anything of me, and I finally found a scrap of paper in some back room of a library in Orsinium. And he was asking for help,” she voice turned all wobbly as she attempted to not let the tears flow again. Resolved, she continued, “I was aware at that point that I couldn’t stop. I wouldn’t be able to rest until I found Darien. Finally I made my way from Vvardenfell and Sotha Sil’s realm to the great isle of Summerset, became a pawn of not only one but several Daedric Princes, lost some really good friends along the way, but I thought again: when this is over, and the world is saved, I will have Darien back. And _she_ —” this was flung out viciously, “took him away from me again. At this point, I had made deals with grand manipulators Mephala and Clavicus Vile, been sacrificed to Molag Bal, been a champion of Azura, and I had still never felt as used by these princes as I did when it came to fucking Meridia. I felt so betrayed. I thought she was one of the “good” ones. I swear to the gods that one day I will find a way to those damned Colored Rooms, and if Meridia tries to stop me, then she’ll end up bound and weakened like what I did to Molag Bal. I loved Darien Gautier and she found a way to take my feelings and his feelings and use it in some unending eternal plot to use both of us. I hate her. And then I saw Fenn dying there, and I just _couldn’t_ allow someone else to die because of me, it was just too much. It made me think of Verandis and Iachesis and Leythen and Darien and Abnur and I just couldn’t lose another person I cared about, nonetheless loved.”

At this moment Lise looked over at Fenn, and saw that he was awake.

“Oh shit,” she untangled herself from Lyris, and rushed over to his side. “Fenn? Are you okay? Is there anything you need?”

“I’m gonna just go over here and look at these maps. Don’t mind me,” Lyris took one look at them, and decided that she was going to allow them some privacy. They deserved that.

They watched as she walked over to the other side of the sanctum. Silence followed that.

“Lise, sit down please, I am alright.”

She awkwardly sat down on the ground next to me. It had never been awkward before. 

“Lise?”

“Yes?”

“Please come here and sit with me for awhile.” Fenn sat up against the wall, and allowed her to sit in front of him so that she could rest her head on his shoulder and so he could finally give her a hug. They sat in complacent silence a few moments more.

“Why didn’t you ever speak of any of this before? I had no idea that all of this was mentally ailing you. I could’ve helped, but you were always so quiet. Serious about your quests at hand.” His arms gripped tighter around her.

“I compartmentalize. Usually hide all my feelings because it hurts too much to feel them but I guess today just broke down my walls.” She had proceeded to hide her face in his shoulder, not out of shame but out of fear. Fear of being open.

They were silent for a few more moments.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be burdening you with my issues when you’ve just been tortured by a psychotic vampire.”

“Lise,” he said gently, “you will never burden me. Allow us to carry these burdens together. So you loved this Darien?”

She stayed quiet for a moment longer. 

“Yes. He was everything I wanted: a chance to return to the life I once had in the hills of High Rock. He was a great man. He was willing to fight no matter what. He was there, you know, at the Doomcrag, before Verandis made his sacrifice, and Darien was willing to lay down his life to fight the evil that resided within that mountain. Verandis told all of them: Gwendis, Darien, Skordo, that they could not continue on with that fight. Instead I had to be the one to bear the burden of Verandis’ sacrifice back to them. It was a painful burden.”

“I wish I could have met you when you were in Rivenspire. Adusa would mention you afterwards so fondly,” Fennorian remarked, lips twitching dangerously close to a smile.

A small smile made its way onto her face. “I suppose Gwendis is still angry at me?”

“She could never be angry at you. Just at the situation. She, as well as the rest of us, miss Verandis dearly.”

“I wish I could’ve found Verandis when I was in Coldharbour. I still wish I could find him. It never seemed fair that he had to sacrifice himself to save Rivenspire. I know he held a lot of self-blame at the Montclair situation, but it wasn’t his fault. It could never be his fault.”

“He still may be alive. There’s still time left to rescue both him and Darien,” A smile grew on his own face, and he looked down to see Lise smiling at me. It made him feel a sense of warmth that he had not found in a long, long while. Long before Western Skyrim and even the hills of Ravenwatch Castle.

“I’ve realized something today.” Lise seemed to have made up her mind about something, looking him straight in the eyes, her own eyes not steely but full of openness and somehow, warmth.

“Yes?” Fenn asked, smile toying on his face, returning her gaze.

“Time together is short, and I shouldn’t wait longer until I’ve saved the world again to admit how I feel, so. Fennorian of House Ravenwatch, I would like it to be known officially that I love you. Also I will do everything in my power to make sure that you don’t die on me or get abducted by some stupid Daedric Prince in a self-sacrificing gesture.” She looked up at him then, hope still evident on her exhausted face.

Fennorian was moderately stunned by this revelation. After a moment though, he realized that’s what that feeling was. Love. A different kind of love than he had for his brothers and sisters of House Ravenwatch, different from his predilection and fondness for Lyris and other friends. Simply put, love.

“Lise. You are the most amazing mortal I have met in a long time. I don’t know what I expected when Adusa and Gwendis would talk about you, but you have always been more than the Vestige to me. You have trusted in me when no one else would, and now I feel something that I have not felt in years.”

He bent down to gently kiss her, and she met his lips back. It was strange to kiss a mortal, he thought, but still the pleasant sensation he remembered. She brought warmth he didn’t know he still needed in life.

Her smile broke the kiss, and he saw the happiness return to her eyes as well. 

“Well. Meridia is sure going to get a kick out of this,” he told her, very amused by the thought of pissing off the entity Lise had a tumultuous relationship with.

“Oh I sure hope to Coldharbour she does. I hope she’s having a fucking tantrum right now in those stupid Colored Rooms,” she laughed back, “and I sure hope you don’t like me for my blood because the Vestige only has so much to around.” She gestured her hands down to her lithe but muscular body.

“I assure you, your blood is not that good. It has notes of death in it,” He replied, teasingly, joyed to return to their flippant banter.

“Blame the Daedric Princes on that one. I don’t even want to know how many times I’ve technically died,” she scoffed, happiness abounding from her face.

They laughed together warmly, and Fenn thought both of them knew deep down that somehow they would make it through this quest, saving the world and getting to be happy along with it, at least for a little while.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!
> 
> this was my first fic and was mainly written so that I could resolve all of my vestige's feelings during greymoor because dammit if that Fenn scene in "The Vampire Scholar" didn't break my heart
> 
> à bientôt!


End file.
